APPENDIX. 449 



foliage and largest cones of all the western pines. Leaves, three in a fascicle, 

 ten to fifteen inches long ; cones, twelve to eighteen inches long, producing 

 a hard-shell nut. Reported as occurring in -Josephine County, Southern 

 Oregon. 



KNOBCONE PINE. 

 (P. atlennuata Lemmoii.) 



A small suhalpine tree of the Coast, Cascade, and Sierra Nevada ranges, 

 notable for its firmly-closed cones, which are so persistent that they some- 

 times become completely enveloped in the growing tree. The seed is remark- 

 able for its great vitality, specimens having been known to germinate after 

 being kept for twenty years. I^eaves, three in a fascicle, three to six inches 

 long; cones, three to six inches long, producing a seed. 



Range — California to Central Oregon. 



Use — Fuel and ornamental. 



WESTERN LARCH OK WESTERN TAMARACK. 

 (LKirix occidentalis Nutt.) 



This deciduous and very useful conifer is, so far as yet known, confined 

 exclusively to the eastward of the Cascade Range. This limitation is hard 

 to account for and is certainly not due to any lack of adaptation to humid 

 conditions, as it is well known to thrive in sections of the Bitter Root Range 

 in Idaho, where the annual precipitation is greater than in the Willamette 

 Valley, Oregon. Its powers of adaptation to semi-arid conditions are" almost 

 equally great, as it is known to exist in the Lake Chelan district, Washing- 

 ton, where the annual precipitation is only eleven and one-half inches. The 

 trees are tall, of good size, and have a very thick bark of light-gray color. 

 This thick bark enables the tree to survive in safety many forest fires in 

 which adjoining species perish. The wood is dark, close-grained, of high 

 specific gravity, and makes very fair lumber. That this, as well as several 

 other species of the Pacific Slope, is slowly disappearing there can be no 

 doubt, as the very limited number of saplings abundantly testifies. This 

 disappearance is undoubtedly due to gradual desiccation of the region over 

 which the tree ranges. 



Range — Oregon to the Rocky Mountains : north to Columbia Lake, British 

 Columbia, about north latitude 51°. Once reported from Blackwater River. 

 British Columbia, north latitude 5.3°" 



Use — Lumber and fuel, and in Eastern Oregon for railroad ties. 



LYALL LARCH. 

 (Larix Lyalli Parll.) 



A rare and rather remarkable alpine tamarack, not yet definitely found 

 in Oregon, but supposed to occur on some of the higher peaks of Wallowa 

 County. Closely allied to the last-named species, but having a greater 

 alpine range — in fact, the highest altitudinal range of any tree in the north- 

 west. It is a tree of exceedingly slow growth, and, judging from its present 

 scarcity, isolation, and limited production of cones and seeds, it is undoubt- 

 edly becoming extinct. 

 29 



